Now, more than ever, we need a moderating influence from the Church. Americans in general (not just church-going Christians) need a principled influence for hope and calm and clarification. But the mainstream Christian church has largely back peddled on convictions that could be viewed as controversial. Rather than putting out a strong message such as, “We don’t like what’s happening and we don’t like the people who are making it happen,” the tacit PR message of the Church today is more like, “We’re nice people. We like everyone.” That’s just plain wrong.

It’s nice-very refreshing, in fact-when Republicans actually stand up publicly for what’s right. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) did so during “one minute speeches” today on the floor of the House of Representatives. He spoke against President Barack Obama’s war on Christian faith and the latest front  in that war which involves the ObamaCare mandate that religious institutions offer liberal health care options that many Christians find immoral and/or objectionable.

The defining traits of conservative leadership are too varied and detailed for this limited space.  But as the GOP’s 2012 nominating process continues, a few pertinent points bear further examination, lest the voters be fooled by spin-meisters and charlatans.

 Sen. Rick Santorum issued a press release on Friday, February 3, noting he was the first and only candidate to sign the Presidential Pledge for Religious Freedom. The pledge states that the candidate will protect religious freedom in full for all Americans, and will advance international religious freedom as part of American foreign policy.

In a “split decision” (2-1), a three-Judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sitting at San Francisco yesterday struck down Proposition 8, the California initiative adopted on November 4, 2008, which overturned a decision of the California Supreme Court (In re Marriage Cases) requiring the State of California to recognize same-sex marriages. The Thomas More Society represented the Family Research Council in defending Proposition 8 in the Ninth Circuit and expects that Proposition 8 ultimately will be upheld by the Supreme Court.

Great news: we finally have a real Republican winning in the GOP presidential race! Rick Santorum swept Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado yesterday, well ahead of RINO Mitt “RomneyCare” Romney in every case. Santorum’s comments after the big win show that unlike Mitt “RomneyCare,” he gets it.  He understands-in the greatest tradition of Republican values-that our rights do not come from government, but from God, and that when we look to government for rights, we need to remember that government is fickle and often takes away those rights on a whim.

The Boys Scouts of America was incorporated FEBRUARY 8, 1910. Sir Robert Baden-Powell began the movement in England two years prior. In the pamphlet “Scouting & Christianity” 1917, Baden-Powell wrote: “Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity.”